Maruti Suzuki to launch Kizashi in India Next Year (2010)

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) will introduce its sports luxury car Kizashi in India at 2010 Auto Expo. The Kizashi, which is Suzuki’s first big car developed in-house, has already been launched in the US.

Features

• First-all-wheel-drive luxury car in India
• Suzuki developed 2.4-litre Euro IV engine
• Standard six-speed manual transmission
• Optional automatic transmission based on continuously variable transmission (CVT) technology with paddle shifters mounted on the steering wheel (like those in Honda City and Toyota Corolla Altis).
• Large tyre size of a 21 inch wheel (against Honda Civic’s 15 inch.)

Price

• The Car will be come in price bracket of Rs. 10-13 lakhs

Competition

• Maruti Suzuki’s Kizashi will compete with the likes of Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Sonata, SkodaAuto Octavia and Volkswagen Jetta. Maruti engineers have already started work on Kizashi and are likely to customise the luxury sedan for rugged Indian road conditions.

Acc to Sources, the Kizashi Project is the most ambitious project by Maruti in India in the 26 year old history of the carmaker.

Maruti will pitch it as a D-Segment sports crossover — a vehicle that derives from a car platform while blends features from a sports utility vehicle.

Maruti is expected to manufacture Kazashi at its sprawling 500 acre Manesar Facility.